The category makes sense. It is based on if a law professor is in charge of the blog or not, hence the ivory tower of academia. The name is derogatory, but the acclaim is not. The description of Volokh is not derogatory at all, quite the opposite.

Adam and Ifought, being the top of the list is flattering, even if the category name is not. Seems clear to me.

"@Orielbean: You've got it right. The URL of the "Ivory Tower" category page ends in "professor". It's basically a category for law blogs from the academic community."

How disappointing... as much as I respect and enjoy this blog -- the award is well-deserved -- it wouldn't hurt to have a minor comeuppance in this respect.

Admittedly, it works better as a general slap at academia than a specific ranking of who has their head buried deepest in the sand. I'm not sure VC would deserve that prize, but there is something unnerving about having the impact of decisions on the lives of actual people be more or less disallowed by the prevailing interpretive lens here, expecting the cumbersome legislative process to restore justice to the situation ex post facto when the text is too rigid. Liberals have their own ivory tower problems, but at least some of them are looking out the window, not just down at the text in front of them.

...but there is something unnerving about having the impact of decisions on the lives of actual people be more or less disallowed by the prevailing interpretive lens here, expecting the cumbersome legislative process to restore justice to the situation ex post facto when the text is too rigid. Liberals have their own ivory tower problems, but at least some of them are looking out the window, not just down at the text in front of them.

Nicely put. Or as I keep saying, courts that abandon 'right and wrong' for 'legal and illegal' are functionally insane.